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Unitarian

The origin of this system of theology was in the rejection of the Trinity, or the doctrine of three persons — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — existing in the Godhead, and constituting one God. As monotheism was the antipode of polytheism, Unitarianism is the antipode of Trinitarianism. But associated with this fundamental doctrine are the denials, in general, of the fall of man in Adam as the federal head of the race, the total depravity of human nature, the vicarious atonement of Christ, and eternal punishment; and the affinnalions of the mission of Christ to make a revelation of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man; of the dignity of human nature, but its elementary and incomplete condition; of man's natural sonship to God; of sin, not as natural, but unnatural, to man; of the two great spiritual laws, love to God and love to man; and of the destiny of all mankind to holiness and happiness by the grace of God, and man's moral discipline here and hereafter.

The Unitarians regard the atonement as a moral agency designed to draw men to God, and reconcile, or make them at one, with God, as the term signifies, rather than as a legal or governmental expedient, or as a vicarious substitute in a literal sense to cancel human sins. Jesus, speaking of his cross, said, " And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me."

Christ is variously regarded as a being between God and man; or as a man superhumanly endowed, impeccable, and infallible; or as a mere man on the natural plane, but a natural religious genius of great power. The second view is the more common one among modern Unitarians. The Holy Spirit is identified with God himself, as the spirit of man constitutes man. The Holy Spirit indicates the holy influence which the mind of God exerts upon the mind of man. The prevailing views in regard to a future life are that of the inborn immortality of the soul, that of perpetual progress, and that of the hopeful, rather than the assertive, belief of the eventual restoration of all men to holiness and happiness, — conditions which Unitarians believe to be inseparably connected.

The history of Unitarianism is claimed to date back to the time of Christ and his apostles as preachers of pure monotheism. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord," is declared by the Master to be the first and great commandment. Early church Fathers and writers, under varying forms of language, held the essential unity of God. The term "trinity" as applied to the Godhead is not found in the Scriptures, nor was it employed by any writer till Tertullian, about A.D. 200. It is argued that the thing did not exist, because the name descriptive of the thing did not come into use till that time. Unitarians, accordingly, regard the whole system of theology known as Trinitarian, or Orthodox, as a gradual development from the time the Gentiles, imbued with Oriental speculation or Greek philosophy, entered the Christian Church. The school of Alexandria hellenized Christian thought, and the Platonic doctrine of the Logos led to the gradual deification of Christ.

But alongside of this tendency, step by step, proceeded a counter-movement — led by Theodotus, Artenion, Paul of Samosata, Arius, and others of the early writers — to maintain the strict unity of God in Christian belief. In the battle of words between homo- and hommousian, of the same substance or of like substance, as applied to the nature of Christ, Arius maintained that he was a created being. The climax was reached at the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325), when, after an imbittered debate, the doctrines of the unity of God and the subordinate nature of Christ were anathematized, and the Godhead of the Son with the Father was established. It is an opinion held by many Catholic and some Protestant advocates of the Trinity, that this dogma came in the development of the church, rather than as a doctrine revealed or taught in the Scrip tures; also it is a remarkable fact, that no single passage or verse of the Old or New Testament is received as an assured proof-text of the Trinity by the unanimous consent of all Trinitarian writers: some ground their faith on one passage, some on another.

Before the Reformation, Unitarian opinions, though not under that name, were in existence in various parts of Christendom. Some suffered martyrdom for the faith. Adam Duff, for his denial of the doctrine of the Trinity, was burned alive near Dublin, Ireland, in 1320. William Taylor, a priest, was put to death in England in 1422. But, when the Reformation broke up the torpor of religious conformity in Europe, Unitarian sentiments received a new impulse, and led to new martyrdoms; for both Catholics and Protestants united to destroy the heresy. Among these confessors and martyrs were Ludwig Hetzer, Michael Servetus, and Gentilis in Switzerland; Sega, Guirlanda, and hundreds of others in Italy; Flekwyk in Holland; George von Parris, Joan Bocher (called "the Maid of Kent"), Bartholomew Legate, Hammont, Lewes, Ket, Wright, Wightman, and many others in England; Thomas Aikenhead in Scotland; Catharine Vogel, at the age of eighty, in Poland; and Dolet in Prance. The Socini and others were banished from Italy: John Biddle died in prison in England, and Francis David in Transylvania.

The Unitarian faith was known in England before the Reformation; but at that period it received a new impulse and diffusion, so that in 1640 the synods of London and York issued a canon against Socinianism. Milton, Locke, and Newton wrote works in favor of Arian or kindred sentiments. Dr. Joseph Priestley was the pastor of a church in Suffolk, and afterwards in Birmingham, from which place he was driven to America in 1792; his books, manuscripts, and philosophical and chemical apparatus being destroyed by a mob on account of (he popular odium attached toliis political and religious opinions. In 1813 the Unitarians were admitted by law to the privileges of other dissenting bodies. The Unitarian occupants of dissenters' chapels first had their claims admitted to the possession of these bequests and foundations by the Act of 1844.

In America, Dr. Gay of Hingham, ordained in 1717, was probably the earliest preacher of Unitarianism. In 1783 Dr. James Freeman, of King's Chapel, Boston, the grandfather of Dr. James Freeman Clarke, removed from the Book of Common Prayer all references to the Trinity, or the Deity, and worship of Christ; and his church from that time became distinctively Unitarian. In 1801 the Plymouth Church, the oldest of the Puritan faith in America, declared itself, by a large vote, Unitarian. Organized usually on the basis of covenants instead of creeds, the New England churches, without any violent change in their articles of union, gradually adopted the new faith. On May 24, 1825, the American Unitarian Association was formed.

One distinguishing characteristic of the Unitarian Church is its hostility to creeds, or dogmatic statements of belief. They are regarded as prisons to the mind, as opposing the progress of truth, endangering the conscience by insincere or partial assent or subscription, embroiling churches in strife and persecution, and turning off attention from the fundamental truths and plain duties of religion to intellectual and metaphysical definitions of subtleties beyond the reach of man. Hence the form of church union generally adopted by them has been that of a covenant rather than a creed. The body has no one central symbol, or statement of belief. Its creed is to be found in its literature. The bond of church union is made to consist in a pledge to live the Christian life, and to co-operate with others iu the same calling, in worship, in philanthropy, in supporting religious institutions, and spreading the kingdom of God on earth. Faith, as a sentiment of the heart, is the uniting tie, rather than the declaration of a series of intellectual and dogmatic propositions.

Described in one word, Unitarianism is an appeal to reason and conscience. The typical Unitarian boldly asserts the claim of reason in religion. He appeals to reason in the interpretation of the Bible. He insists that no religious doctrine which is contrary to reason should be accepted. He contends for the freedom of private criticism and of private interpretation. He professes the right and the duty of private judgment. Channing's famous Baltimore sermon of 1819 was an appeal to the natural reason and conscience of men.

The typical Unitarian is distinguished by independence of thought and by a tendency towards rationalism. The Unitarian appeal to reason and conscience implies absolute mental freedom. The typical Unitarian is a person who wants to be unpledged to any prescribed theological doctrine. He does not recognize any creed, not even the simplest one, as binding him.

The typical Unitarian has a strong dislike of dogma as well as of controversy. Typical Unitarian ministers have no interest in theological doctrines, but make ethics the main burden of their preaching. They do not dwell on their doubts and disbeliefs. Their sermons are more marked by omissions than by actual denials. Channing wished to ignore the doctrine of the Trinity. His temper was far from the temper of controversy. The typical Unitarian is no eager controversialist. Indeed, he has an almost passionate desire to escape from controversy. It is true, violent controversies have been caused between the evangelical Protestants and the Unitarians. Yet the typical Unitarian would gladly have escaped all controversies. He maintains that a clearly defined theological opinion is not essential to any hold upon religious truth, but that the religious life is possible wholly independently of any doctrines, under all theories alike. He is longing for non-dogmatic churches in which Unitarians and Trinitarians will find it possible to worship together. He has outgrown the controversial stage of religious development, and attempts to practice a religion which is free of dogma and of dogmatism. This non-dogmatic spirit forms a chief characteristic of the typical Unitarian, both in America and in England.

The Unitarian appeal to reason and conscience implies the supremacy of the individual conscience. The typical Unitarian is a person who does not recognize the authority of any church-discipline over him, and who regards his own conscience as superior to the creed of any church. He sees a great moral danger, the danger of insincerity, lurking in the assent to any creed. He thinks he has observed that men who have subscribed to a creed have become insincere.

The typical Unitarian is distinguished by an active interest in political and social reform. He is interested in the latest ideas in political and social science. He is characterized by an unselfish humanitarian feeling and a deep sympathy with what is best in the political and social aspiration of his time. He has been an advocate of reforms aiming at general education, abolition of slavery, temperance, reformation of criminals, international peace, and a better social order. Channing, in the later years of his life, was most widely known as a Christian philanthropist. Many Unitarians have been conspicuous as leaders in political and social reform. Some Unitarian preachers have been drawn into close relations with leading statesmen by the common interest in politics. Many New England Unitarians have been statesmen themselves. That the typical Unitarian should be distinguished by an active interest in political and social reform is but a natural consequence of the emphasis which he puts on ethics. This interest is but an attempt at the realization of those social ethics in which he so strongly believes.